Oil companies are trying to sink Elon Musk's Tesla because of fears they will be hit by the rise of electric cars, it has been claimed.

Ross Gerber, the boss of US wealth manager Gerber Kawasaki, said short sellers betting against the company were being backed by Big Oil.

He said it was in the interests of these firms to talk down Tesla because they stood to lose billions of dollars if electric cars became widespread. About a third of global oil demand is from cars.

Oil companies are trying to sink Elon Musk's Tesla because of fears they will be hit by the rise of electric cars, it has been claimed

The comments came after Musk revealed proposals to take Tesla private despite the company's debt mountain, meaning it could be one of the most expensive buy-outs in history.

It also emerged the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has invested in it. Tesla shares jumped after the announcements, although short-sellers and some analysts were sceptical a buy-out deal would occur.

Share this article

Yesterday, shares fell 5per cent and were trading near to the level they were at before Musk said he wanted to take the firm private.

Gerber said: 'I've seen the attacks from short-sellers, many of which are just backed by the oil industry to destroy Tesla.

Yesterday, Tesla shares fell 5per cent and were trading near to the level they were at before Musk said he wanted to take the firm private

Ross Gerber, the boss of US wealth manager Gerber Kawasaki, says it's in the interests of oil firms to talk down Tesla because they stand to lose billions of dollars if electric cars became widespread. About a third of global oil demand is from cars

'When we looked into some of the short-sellers' backgrounds, we found that many of them had large positions in oil companies.

'This is big business, these guys aren't messing around, and they're definitely trying to take down Tesla.' Gerber did not give examples of the short-sellers and could not be reached for comment yesterday.

But industry body Oil and Gas UK said: 'The claims don't marry with facts, given that many oil and gas companies are active investors in electric vehicles, produce the materials required to make them, and provide the energy needed to run them.'

Musk has long hated short-sellers, who he has described as 'jerks who want us to die'.